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[C] Pantry Nap

Cade thundered down the stairs and into the kitchen, her heavy boots beating against the ground as she began searching the kitchen cupboards for food.

She probably should ahve asked what Rizzo would eat. She pulled out a can of peeled tomatos and looked at it in confusion.

Could a human eat that without any preparation? She shook the can and gave a disgusted expression. It sounded sloppy and gross. She dropped it to the counter then padded to a wooden door next to the fridge.

The pantry would have something in it that Rizzo could eat, right? That was her hope as she pushed it open and stepped inside.

Her attention was drawn, not to the food, but to the body leant up against a sack of potatoes.

Cade arched a brow and kicked the boy's outstretched foot. "I'd like to see you try, kid."

The World Wars had been tough on Vampires living in Europe. Some Vampires had been forced to bend to the human's level to fit in. With Edric's insane ideals, he had had the two of them join in battles and drink from the victims to stay alive.

In those years, having joined under the Italian army, she'd picked up German and bits and pieces of a few other languages. In the past few weeks, she'd been dredging up her memories of the German language so she could communicate with Gerhard better.

"Get up and go sleep in a proper bed. I need to be in here and you're blocking up the entire room."

She lashed out to kick his foot again and forced herself into the room. Her heavy boot planted on his stomach as if he was just part of the floor as she began to look on the shelves for something that Rizzo could eat without her having to prepare it.

Humans were so fucking awkward. Couldn't they live in liquid diets like Vampires? That would make things so much easier.

She picked up a glass jar of frankfurter hod dog sausages. She'd seen humans eating these. Were they okay for Rizzo to eat.

Cade flinched as she was forced back and whimpered as hands closed around her throat.

Her body went completely still and her eyes unfocussed; like a natural response to the situation. This had clearly happened a number of times before.

She stopped breathing completely and stared up at the boy for a few long moments before her body twitched to life again. Her legs kicked upwards, her flexibility working to her advantage as her steel toe cap boots beat against his head.

"I kicked him a couple times," she grumbled softly. Her voice was weak, but it wasn't saturated with too much pain.

Headwounds didn't hurt half as much as other types of wounds.

Cade didn't move to get up, just laid out on the floor. If she could get away with it, she'd stay here for a couple of hours and let the bone knit together a little before she did anything to upset the wound.

Gerhard ignored the hurt expression on her face. He bent down and yanked her up by the front of her shirt. It was sure to cause more jarring pain, considering her skull was still healing itself.

"That 'fucker' is your superior, Cadence. I don't care if he nearly kills you simply because he felt like it. You'll do whatever he wants no questions asked. Do you understand me?" He hissed, his eyes narrowing in on her.

The fact that this impish little girl had actually kicked Emory made Gerhard's blood start to boil.

Her submissive reaction saved her from further assault. Gerhard was only seconds away from beating her head against the side of the wall. But her compliance saved her.

His eyes softened and he let one of his hands gently cup her cheek, his thumb wiping some of the blood away as if it was a tear. It smudged, already having caked a bit on her skin. The outline of it stayed in place.

"That's more like it." He whispered, his voice tender, as if he possibly held some love for her in his depraved and blackened heart.

It seemed her last couple interactions with the man had been very sour. She hated that. She didn't want to disappoint Ger at all. He was important to her. Currently the most important person in her life.

"I'll go get the mop and clean up," she mumbled softly.

She felt like a scolded child that felt guilty for disappointing a parent and wanted to try and make it up by doing house chores to please her parent.